Page 199 of Eldritch
“For now. I’m still angry, though, so tread cautiously.”
Smiling, he hiked his boot up onto the crumbled edge of the stone wall and rested his arm against his bent knee. “Fair enough. But know that your anger bears no effect on how swiftly I would kill to protect you.” He reached out, gently caressing mycheek, and from the corner of my eye, I caught sight of a figure standing in the corner.
Frowning, I gripped Zevander’s wrist and sidestepped him for a better view.
A little girl, perhaps no more than six, stared back at us, her tattered white dress and pale skin practically glowing in that shadowed corner of the gallery.
“Hello?” I stepped toward her.
“Who are you talking to?” Zevander asked from behind me.
I glimpsed him peering in the same direction and turned back to her. “Do you not see her standing there?”
“No.”
Sighing, I turned to face him again. “Then, perhaps my father was right about the dead.”
“You see them now?”
“Yes. Well, one. A little girl.”
“Not surprising, I suppose.” His gaze lingered there a little longer. “The Corvi worshipped the death goddess. It makes sense that you’d have visions.”
“Like the Lyverians. How long has the Umbravale separated our worlds?”
“Centuries.”
“Is it possible that mancers could’ve crossed over?”
His brow lifted, and he blew out a breath. “Months ago, I’d have said not likely. Since having learned of the vein here, I suppose there’s a possibility.”
“Interesting.”
“Oh! Oh, this is stunning.” Aleysia jogged up the staircase, clanking what I guessed were jars of food stuffed in a bundle she carried. “And to think you wanted to sleep on the ground somewhere, Father. Absurd!”
“Let’s settle in,” Zevander said. “We’ve got a long journey tomorrow. I’ll take first watch.” He twisted back toward theview, out toward Raivox, who sniffed around as if searching for food. The Corvugon scampered back and forth, almost erratically, pausing to claw at the dirt.
“Probably was a good idea to bring the horses in,” I said. “He seems ravenous, the way he’s sniffing around.”
“Unless he’s looking for something else. Seems rather occupied with that one spot.”
“I wish he’d fly off and find something to eat. Unless, of course, the human he ate was filling enough.” It was hard for me to grasp that, only months ago, the enormous creature was smaller than the rat he hunted with ease.
Behind us, Father, Corwin and Aleysia lit a small campfire out of the kindling they’d gathered from below. Still standing at Zevander’s side, I said, “Your eyes blackened again. Back when you stabbed him.”
“I wish I could tell you what you want to hear. That I was out of sorts when I did it.”
“You weren’t?” A quick sweep of my gaze showed the others busying themselves with jars of food, seemingly oblivious to our discussion.
“No. That time, I acted out of instinct, not madness. And I’d do it again, if necessary.”
“Even at your own expense? The mortal was an easy kill for you this time, but what happens when it isn’t?”
The corner of his lips pulled to a half smile. “Is that what has your brow tight and bunched?”
“You kill for coin, as you said. You don’t have to kill for me. Not if it means your life.”
He sneered and stared out over the vast expanse of trees. “The world has taken everything from me. My morals. My body. My fucking soul. You’re all I have, moon witch. The only thing that gives me worth, and if it takes my life to keep you safe then I willgladlysurrender it. For you.”
